The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-12-25
VERY HARD LINES.
B-R-R-Ri WHAT A CHRIsTMAsi
Kew People Got AionE and ENJOY Then.s
selves Where Il 10 FIFTY Below Zero.

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selves Where II 10 Fifty Below Zero.
Nine times In ten the earth is white with
snow, on Christmas, either around New York
and Philadelphia. or at least no further north
than the Catskills. And that means that tho
white blanket which shrouds the earth Is one
unbroken sheet reaching into tho north further
than man has ever boon-further than mans
knowledge reaches. The majestic Hudson Is
then locked In leo and Albany Ia q winter capt.
tal. But there Is no city In the United States
where tho possibilities Of n cold Christmas. or
q snowy ono. are understood ms In Montreal and
Quebec. The English families that crowd the
richly laden tables Of the Christmas season
there and make 1t the ono day Of the year whom
heaven invests tho earth with all Of her peace
and bounty and JOY that man can comprehend.
gather behind windows fitted with double
sashes, the outer one OF which will not
open. The doors Of the houses are framed with
strips OF cloth, stoves are on evory floor, and
tho hall racks groan beneath tho weight OF the
fur coats and caps and shoes OF the ladies and
mon. In ten successive days that have been
In Montreal at this season there vas only one
on which snow did not fall, and the roadways
and sidewalks OF the streets wore already three
or four feet deep with hard-packed snow. From
my bedroom window I could sec on the sheds
and caves the many layers of differing colors
LlIt moi biho tASluSlt ~ LIE INV . Nhlu
sheet for a little fluster of fakes. and then q
two-inch or three-inch yellow band. left by .
two-days' fall OF crystal flakes. Ali that seems
like Christmas weather to an Englishmanl It
Is an exagGeration Of the winters he knew at
home. 1t Is fit weather for heavy dining. for
rich buildings, for dancing, sleiRhing, and grand
frolics and rounds of games indoors during the
long evenings.
I have said that we have no such Christmases
in our cities. l should have said our larger
cities. for at that season OF the year I have seen
tho snow In Vermont and New Hampshire 10
high that 1t rose in intcrminable white walls a.
lofty as the chr tops beside the railroads. But
the people of major Canada call such latitudes
mild winter climates. and point to the depth
and frequency Of the snowfalls as a proof Of It,
for 1t is not apt to be very cold when It SHOWS.
For colder Christmases we must 60 westward
and north into what was vaguely called British
America only a few years ago, but now Is di-
vided into the great States Of Assinaboia, Al
berta, Saskatchewan, and Athabasca. To give
you an idea Of what Christmas must be
there, let me say that after a journey
through that country I found myself return
ing home through Montana and Dakota. I
reached tho ranch houses Of the Marquis do
Mores, in the Bad Lands OF the Little Missouri.
Il week or so after his cowboys had returned
from their annual roundup" which means
that expedition all ranchmen make in pursuit
OF their wandering cattle every spring to gather
and bring them home. They reported q loss of
eighty-five per cent. Of the picturesque noble-
mans stock. Eighty-ive in every hundred had
frozen to death. Unable to reach tho short
grass through the heavy coating Of snow above
it. they had huddled in groups. behind single
trees or ridiculous fences. to freeze to death
in the knife-like winds that swept the prairie
as with a blast of dematerialized ice.
Two hundred miles north of there, in ASST
naboia the pioneers told me that the Their
mometer often falls to So or even 60 below
zero, and that the wind blows at the rate OF
forty or fifty miles an hour at times. There is
no welcome, warming snow to speak Of there.
to envelop the windward sides OF the houses
and outbuildinGs, and to clothe tho roofs as
with a blanket Of down. There is not In a
whole winter above an inch Of snow on the
prairie. and when that flies 1t Is as fine as flour.
and the air is so cold that the snow does not
frame houses, and light the winds and the
cold with blazing fires that are not so
SinSs1u the pvt we Ehsi saG ma msn 81 re- bed SH@sn s!f sSnss
can be provided. The most comfortable OF all
IN that country are the poorer newcomers. who
have built themselves houses of sod cut In
such large squares that the walls are three feet
thick. though the cakes are no deeper than the
such dwellings, with a hairy-like fur Of gray
grass, blades. 1t requires care and skill to ft
in deity enough to keep out the wind;
and SO - you YOU. n ,Hi as you gu ride through that
eastern and western ends' are not pierced az
all. the only openings being those that face the
South. They began with cattle raising In that
do better, for with their hoofs they can dig
down to the grass and keep supplied with food
a rich European living In Assinaboia,
and though 1t was IN June the whole e%xterna!
the, severity Of the. winters there. The house
had an outer plating of glass. so that in the
ain i'% eeu I'D s nop w entgT' il Bet nRd at t night inn sss
and outer shell Of the walls was a sheathine Of
brick. In the centre Of the house. with one end
square. hollow t box " Of fO brlet m naasems t 70 be
She'd tit'si heat heat for Se2 many a13 hours %rsa a sSsry the asff; u spf had %
burned away: With this stove and the brick
WINS e eeila F's eroS SdesF s Wish n mat to sneff or Of rt sas
cheer; Ghrls5mas brought no terrors to that
'o Bnt t h2ake ySa that the neon,e o, tb. n.w mart,
Of Canada sit shiyerine with GOLD in theft in
@istsk wint eIsd n Meyer isrs eoV Width there ess be 3 sb greater maor
to get. they brave the y,' cold tdie out R'o 81
ddGors. and though they must drive from ten to
night When some one does not give a party at
there Mi,s are dancing and eating. and frol-
But there @rsn are S,a terrors FOR re thsse pisasureeoer.
such as we OF older countries never dream of
not me fear OF the wolves that abound there.
Tor they are SO cowardly as to DO no more
than the timid deer, the ali but human
gophers or the startled wild birds that every
In winter Is tho snow squall. for this Is the
oil. those, squalls made known most
'RouGhing, It." He there pictures. a man lost
q ,squall aad unable to tell in which
Yet when morning breaks the man finds
in his own barnyard. Frightful
I'D gales on this sea Of sod. A driver can
not sec the dashboard. OF his wagon. He cam
not keep his eyes open for more than a few Sec
}nds ut u time. lie knows not which way to
lrive and must trust to the instinct Of his horse
g roach his home. Failure TO find shelter
,iten means death from freezing, SO cold Is the
tir and SO searching are the blasts. Neither
and nor sky is to DO, seen. and In place OF the
ltmosphore, one might almost say. Is fine,
,harp snow, driven in gusts and whirls and
mad blasts of wind. At such times the parties
u m~errymakers are glum affairs. for no one
VINO has reached the house knows whether
he absenteeS are remaining at home or arc
blindly in the overwhelming storm,